I am on a quest to try every Robicellis Flavor that exists. This may mean talking Matt and Allison into making discontinued flavors for me! If I can get 45 other crazy people together, we can special order these flavors (while in season). Anyone care to join me?

The following are flavors that I have not tried yet, and notes are in parenthesis.

You take a bite. Your brain processes the cake. Not to sweet, very moist, very good. You bite into the chicken. Spicy, tangy, good. Yet, somehow, your brain refuses to process the combination of all of the components.

Seriously. My brain rejected this experience.

MY BRAIN DOES NOT COMPREHEND.

I can remember the taste of the buffalo chicken. And I kinda remember the cake. But even though I took several bites of everything together, I have no memory of that flavor.

They blew my brain. How many of you can say that a cupcake (or any food) did the same for you?

I feel that I have been a bit scatterbrained in my approach to picking recipes, and I think this has prevented me from cooking and baking many things. As such, I wanted to formalize a way to choose a recipe, so I stop spending hours searching.

Step One: Decide on the flavor and type of dish desired. This is probably what the surfing is about, is that I am in “I want to make something” idea. If I am really looking to make something, I decide what I want in advance. Like, Vanilla Butter pound Cake, or pumpkin pound cake, or French Buttercream. Step Two: Quick Internet Search to see if I am unique. (I think my Strawberry Jalapeno Cupcakes are the closest thing to absolutely unique that I have done.Step Three: Cookbooks. I have several cookbooks that I want to cook from more than I do. The first is my prized possession of my Grandmother’s 1984 Hospital Auxiliary Cookbook. The four baking books are:

I have written before about my breadfailures. And, in my many discussions with other bakers, many are still afraid of bread. (I am still afraid of pie crust, so we all have our fears.) Thus, when I picked up a copy of The Fannie Farmer Baking Book, I was intrigued by the recipes for Batter Bread. The recipe is basically “Put things in a bowl, beat for two minutes, let rise for 45 minutes, and bake for 45 minutes.”

I thought this would be an excellent way, if it turned out, to give a basic bread recipe to the masses. We are obsessed with no knead breads, and Artisan Bread in Five gives a great way to have artisan breads at home. Yet, they still take hours, and the longer resting times give a flavor quality to the bread.

This bread recipe is not going to give you artisan quality bread. Artisan Bread comes from high moisture, long rises, and can take several days.

But, this is a great bread to whip up quickly, and to have home baked bread that is tasty and quick.

(Please keep away from cats. My kitten ate a piece of the first loaf before knocking it on the floor.)

If you are using active dry yeast, then put the yeast, butter, and milk into a bowl, and let sit for a few minutes. The milk should be warm but not hot, put a clean finger into it to test the warmness. (I put cold butter and cold milk in the microwave for about 1.5 minutes.) The yeast should bubble up and look slightly foamy and smell like yeast. If you are using instant yeast, then you can skip this step.

Add sugar, salt, and 2 cups of flour. Beat by hand for two minutes, or by stand mixer for one minute. Add the last cup of flour, and beat until combined.

Put batter into a loaf pan. Smooth the top, and slice down the middle with a very sharp knife. Let it stand until it has risen to the top of the pan, about 45 minutes (in my 73 degree kitchen).

Bake the bread at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. Remove from oven and turn out onto a towel or rack. For a better loaf, let it cool before cutting into it.

Enjoy!

*While making this recipe, I tried to emulate all of the non bakers that I knew and did the “dip and sweep” method of flour measuring. The first time, I purposefully tried to get extra flour in the batter, and the batter 1) took longer to rise, and 2) took longer to bake. In the second case, I shook the flour bag before dipping, and didn’t try to pack it in. It rose faster.

Apparently Cooked flour Frosting is the most popular thing I write about. I attempted a few other versions of it recently, and none have come out right. I found another version today which includes powdered sugar that I may try soon.

This year, my personal baking goal is to 1) Find more people to eat my cakes, and 2) attempt to document pictures and video of the various types of frosting. In my extensive cupcake research, the three places that offered non powdered sugar based buttercream also had the best cupcake cake base. (Those three places are the Robicellis (The best cupcakes in the entire world), Molly’s Cupcakes (in Chicago, but opening soon in NYC), and sugar Sweet sunshine.) I find that many people write cupcake recipes that discuss that this or that frosting is the best, but never actually discuss *Why* the frosting is good. I think educating people on *Why* what they are eating tastes like it tastes is a good step.

My professional goals are to 1) GRADUATE! (OMG I am sick of school) and 2) write the business plan for, well, a possible business. If you know me in person, please ask, if not, I am not quite ready to put it out on the internet. :)

Warning: If you are a cardiologist, into healthy eating, dislike bacon and beef, and/or care about your heart being damaged reading about something Really Unhealthy, please do not go further.

A few months ago, while watching television, we kept seeing the commercial for Friendly’s “Grilled Cheese Burgermelt”. I live in Brooklyn, and the closest Friendly’s is in Staten Island. As a non driver, the Friendly’s in Staten Island is hours away, and thus we could not go.

Yet, we wanted this burger. It was a cheeseburger with grilled cheese sandwiches for buns. An unholy awesomeness of cheese, bread, and meat. We vowed that we would make this monstrosity, someday.

I was relating this story to Matt of Robicelli’s fame, and he mentioned bacon. Grilled Bacon and Cheese Sandwiches, and bacon on the burger.

Must. Have.

Bacon Grilled Cheese Bacon Cheeseburger
Aka: “Burger of Awesomeness”

Makes 4(ish)

Ingredients:
One pound of Thick Cut Bacon
One Pound of Mozzarella, Sliced
One Loaf of White Bread
4-8 Hamburger Patties (depending on if you want single or double patties)

Cook Bacon.
I did half of the bacon in a 400 degree oven for 25 minutes, and it was very crispy, just how I like it. We did the other half on the stove for a less crispy texture.

Be sure to save the grease!

Using some of the bacon grease, cook hamburger patties. I suppose you can do it on a grill, but we live in the city, and thus are only allowed to cook on a stove.

Make the Bacon Grilled Cheese Sandwiches. For four sandwiches, you need Eight grilled cheese sandwiches, which is 16 slices of bread. With half a pound of cheese, this allowed each grilled cheese sandwich to have one slice of cheese, and each burger to have one slice. I buttered the outside of each bread, put one slice of cheese and one slice of bacon inside, and cover with another piece of buttered bread. Ten minutes on the bottom rack of the oven, flipping at five minutes, and we had nice grilled cheese.

To Assemble:
Place Bacon Grilled Cheese Sandwich on a plate. Top with cheese if you have it (we ran out, so these are a 1/4th slice)

Top with Hamburger Patty.

Top with Bacon and Cheese.

For a double decker, add another hamburger patty.

Top with Cheese and the second Bacon Grilled Cheese Sandwich.

Admire. Eat. Debate the damage being done to your arteries, and think about taking an Aspirin. My friend said “I can feel the chest pain after a bite.”

I was not able to do the first date, as, I, ahem, ate all my nutella. I am jumping in with the second event, Sweet and Salty Brownies.

If I had read this recipe before entering the bake off, I may have altered my recipe. Reading this recipe, and the description of the winning recipe from the event, these brownies are basically solid chocolate, with a little sugar, eggs, and flour.

There is twice as much chocolate as flour in the recipe. There is slightly more chocolate than sugar. Basically, you take solid chocolate, melt it with butter, add some sugar, flour, and eggs, and bake.

And, as much as I love the idea, I did not like the brownies.

There are two warring factions of brownie eaters. There are the fudgy brownies, those that like brownies almost like fudge, heavy, full of chocolate, and dense. There are cakey brownies, which are like denser cakes, but still lighter and fluffier than fudge. I fall into the latter category, as well as having grown up with this type of brownie.

I loved the idea of the combination of salty caramel sauce and sea salt on the top of the brownies, but I feel that, at least in my execution, the combination of flavors never came out. Knowing me, I would drown the brownies with caramel over the brownies, which I may do next time. Part of my disappointment was that the caramel drizzled in the middle seeps into the bottom of the brownies, which eliminated that from a separate flavor component. It also means I now have some chocolate caked to the bottom of the cake pan. (Parchment? You mean, actually following the directions on how to prepare the pan? Um, no :)

I have learned that I firmly fall into the “cakey” brownie category. I also learned that I probably should not keep homemade caramel sauce around, because I learned that it is far to easy to eat with a spoon. Or without a spoon. Whatever :)

I do not enter many things, but DICED had a contest to celebrate their anniversary. The question asked “What was the best thing you cooked this year?” I entered my Strawberry Jalapeno Cupcakes

And, in a random drawing, I won a $100 gift certificate to the Institute for Culinary Education! I am so excited!

Now, I just have to decide what class to take. I am probably looking at a sweet bread baking class, maybe puff pastry. I would LOVE to take their “Introduction to Pastry and Baking,” but would need another $1300 gift certificate. (This class would be far more useful than my NYU classes. Wonder if I can take an independent study? :)

Have you taken a class at ICE? Or have any recommendations? You can see the course catalog (for all recreational classes, click on the tabs on top.

A friend asked me on twitter to recommend stand mixers. I asked about her baking habits.

I LOVE my stand mixer. I find that it makes baking easier, most recipes are written with a stand mixer in mind, and it makes the magic of frosting easier as well. But, it takes up significant kitchen real estate, which is a problem for me in my tiny Brooklyn kitchen, so it is only for serious bakers, or those who do quite a bit of baking.

Last year (actually, before last thanksgiving, so happy one year stand mixer anniversary to me!) I asked for the Red KitchenAid Five Quart Model for my Christmas gift. Since I was baking for Thanksgiving, I asked for it early.

I ordered it from the KitchenAid Outlet. It is a refurbished model, and only has a six month warranty, but otherwise the same model as new.

I know other people have other types of mixers. I do recommend (if you can afford it) to go with a brand name such as KitchenAid or Cuisinart. If you do bread, and want to use the mixer to knead, I would not think about a smaller or less powerful mode. If you do gluten free baking, you want a more powerful stand mixer. If you do the occasional cake, and want to just not have to stand there for 2 minutes mixing the mix (nothing wrong with that!) you may be able to get away with a cheaper and less powerful model.

Lastly, I would not buy a stand mixer the first time you bake. I would rather buy a (very) cheap hand mixer to use for a month or two while my frustration builds, than to spend 200+ on a mixer that I may not use. \

Note: Amazon links are affiliate links, and if you make an Amazon purchase after clicking them, I get a (very) small percentage.)

There was a small controversy at the judging table, and among some fellow bakers, that suggested that the taste of chocolate did not come through. I will agree. The brownie recipe is my Grandmother’s, and she stole it from someone else, so it is an older recipe. Compared to several other brownie recipes I have seen, it does not have a high percentage of cocoa in it, and it does not have any melted chocolate, so this will give you more of a cake like brownie than a dense fudge type brownie. Still, I grew up on it, and I think it is one of the best brownies out there.

This has several parts. It is not necessarily a recipe that needs to be followed exactly, but rather a starting point for future explorations. I have made a few notes in places where I would modify it if I were making it again. Enjoy it!

Place all ingredients in mixer bowl. Beat on medium speed for 3 minutes.

For regular brownies, you can bake these as is. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Coconut “Macaroon” fillingIdea from AllRecipes.com (which has a very similar brownie recipe with a different way of mixing)

I did not measure this. It was approximately 7 oz of Sweetened Condensed milk (or about half the can) to about 5 oz of Coconut Flakes. Stir together until you have all the coconut covered in the sweetened condensed milk. When I did it this time, it was very crumbly. Next time, I may try a higher proportion of sweetened condensed milk, or more coconut. Many people said that it did not taste enough of coconut.

To make the layered brownies, place half of the brownie batter in a 9×13 baking pan. Top with all the coconut, sprinkled as evenly as possible. Top with remaining brownie batter. Bake for about 30 minutes, at 350, until a toothpick inserted comes out mostly clean.

You can also make these just two layer brownies, with brownies on the bottom and the coconut on the top. I made a half batch (pictured above), which cooked for 22 minutes. The tallest peaks of the coconut were dark brown, but I think it would be fine in a longer bake for the full size brownies.

Pour sugar in Heavy Pan. Pour water around edge of the sugar pile, to try to get any sugar crystals off the side. Put over high heat. After it boils for a bit, insert a candy thermometer. Cook until it hits the right temperature. (I took mine to 320, because I was playing it safe. You can take it higher than that. Rose Levy Beranbaum said in Rose’s Celebrations that she takes her caramel to 380. Alton Brown said on Good Eats to take it until you see wisps of smoke. Me, 320 to be safe, and it was tasty.)

Once it hits the temperature, pour in the heavy cream. Stir and boil until it is all combined. Then add the butter and sea salt, and turn off the burner.